Some challenges are harder than others. When in the midst of significant change, the challenge to maintain one’s bearings, alongside adapting to the unknowable opportunities/consequences of the oncoming reality, tends to make a mountain or a mess out of a lot of us. And yet, what it will mean to cross that chasim, and become that thing you were sure was coming — and are surprised all the same — speaks to the beauty of the challenge. Whether personal, organizational, or national, the hardness of the challenge of change isn’t that its happening, but that you’ve built a new something to which the old one is only good enough to stand on.

The challenge of change is the thread for this collection of notable links. And as usual, a few thoughts from us bracket those notable reads:

• CES 2019 Show Report via Steve Sinofsky/Learning By Shipping
• The Brain Maps Out Ideas and Memories Like Spaces via Quanta Magazine
• The Route of a Text Message via The Scottbot Irregular
• Work is solving problems and learning is answering questions via Esko Kilpi on Interactive Value Creation
• Why the Color of Technology Must Change via Amber Case

Just a few from us this week:

• Shortcuts and the Challenge of Flow
• Notable Reads for 11 Jan
• Image of this week’s connections via LiquidText